Burnt mother's misery

Ranjeeta Sharma. Photo / Supplied

A young mother left burning to death on a rural road was involved in a volatile and violent marriage to a man who is now the focus of an international manhunt, it emerged last night.

Ranjeeta Sharma's husband - who the Herald can reveal is courier driver Daniel Sharma - flew to Fiji with their 4-year-old son on Friday, hours after firefighters found her burning body on a road west of Huntly in the Waikato.

The case appears similar to that of Nai Yin Xue, who killed his wife, An An Liu, and fled New Zealand to Melbourne in 2007, where he left his 3-year-old daughter Qian "Pumpkin" Xue at a railway station.

Herald inquiries have revealed that Mrs Sharma - a 28-year-old nurse who worked at Middlemore Hospital - was involved in a violent marriage and moved out of her Manurewa home recently, after complaining of being beaten by her husband.

Her Facebook page contains a number of photographs of her son. "My little boy, my life," she wrote under one photo.

Neighbours of the married couple confirmed she had moved out before Christmas.

They also said the couple owed considerable amounts of money and had been visited by police and debt collectors at different South Auckland addresses.

Mr Sharma left his wife's silver Subaru station wagon, registration FSD433, at Auckland airport on Friday. The car is being forensically tested and police have appealed for sightings of Mrs Sharma, or the car, in South Auckland or the Huntly-Rotowaru areas last Thursday or Friday.

Mrs Sharma was alive when she was set on fire. She could only be identified after a post-mortem examination.

"A key focus of the inquiry now is establishing Ranjeeta's movements and how she came to be where her body was found," said inquiry head Detective Senior Sergeant Nigel Keall.

He said the husband was "a person of considerable significance" to police, who were working with Interpol and other authorities to find him.

A report last night said Mr Sharma was believed to have a Canadian passport, amongst others.

"I would like to reiterate that while we are seeking to speak to Ranjeeta's husband, we are keeping an open mind as to what, if any, involvement he has in this matter."

He said search warrants were executed at several addresses yesterday.

Neighbour Des Leota, 30, helped Mrs Sharma move to Papatoetoe last month. He yesterday told the Herald she wanted to leave the family's Manurewa home because he said her husband had beaten her. "She called the cops and they took him away to the cells for the weekend."

Despite her claims of abuse, he'd never heard them arguing but did see her one day with a black eye.

While he was gone she took her chance and left the house, with her son. "She seemed scared but [after the move] she seemed happier."

Mrs Sharma told him her husband moved to his sister's home in Winsford St, Manurewa, after they split.

That house was yesterday searched by police and forensic investigators. They paid special attention to a car parked in the driveway and carefully examined the boot.

When she moved she sold many of their possessions because she wanted to make a clean break, said Mr Leota. "She didn't want him to follow her."

But he was amazed days later when she returned to the house to clear out more belongings - with Mr Sharma. "After all that she shows up ... She must have gone back to him."

He said the couple were in her grey Subaru station wagon when they returned. "I thought they must have worked things out."

Mr Leota said the couple had argued over custody of their son and he thought the boy had lived with relatives of Mr Sharma in Australia for a time. He said Mrs Sharma had just finished training as a nurse. On her Facebook page she said she worked at Middlemore Hospital and she previously worked at a retirement village, the Ellerslie Gardens Home and Hospital.

Mrs Sharma boarded with a couple in Papatoetoe until December 29, but they did not want to speak about her yesterday until they were interviewed by police.

Adrienne Neal and Andrew Packer live in the house the Sharmas used to rent. They said they had received visits from debt collectors and the police looking for them.

Ms Neal said they were told by the rental company that Mrs Sharma had "done a runner" from her husband.

"It looks like they left in a hurry. The oven hadn't been cleaned and the shower was mouldy."

A number of bills had piled up from banks, power and phone companies and it is believed they also owed a considerable amount of unpaid rent.

A child had lived in the house recently because there was drawing on a wall.

Suggestions that Mrs Sharma's death might be an "honour killing" were scoffed at last night.

Tika Ram, a former member of Satsangramayan Mandali, an Auckland-based Indian religious society, said "wife burning" was practised in parts of India when it was thought that a woman brought shame on her family.

"But this is something that happens in India, and is very uncommon in Fiji."

Auckland Indian Society president Harshad Patel said media speculation that it was an "honour killing" was premature and it seemed unlikely to be the case. "In civilised societies you don't see this sort of thing, especially in New Zealand."

Contact: Anyone with information should call the inquiry team on 07 828 7560 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.